gregladen | March 4, 2010The ever-present fog of energetic gamma rays permeating the universe isn't created by what astronomers expected, new observations from NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope reveal, leaving scientists with a new cosmic mystery to solve.
The sky glows in gamma rays even far away from well-known bright sources, such as pulsars and gas clouds within our own Milky Way galaxy or the most luminous active galaxies. Conventionally, astronomers thought that the accumulated glow of active galactic nuclei -- black hole-powered jets emanating from active galaxies -- accounted for most of this gamma-ray…
gregladen | March 4, 2010Apparently, there is a strange security bug in Windows XP whereby some web sites will ask you to press the F1 Key, and if you do, you are screwed.
"The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer," read the advisory. "If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user."
details
gregladen | March 4, 2010I and the Bird #120: March is up at Sand Creek Almanac, which is Deb's blog, and it's from Minnesota! So, this edition is special because it is from my neighborhood, and because it is the Dozenteenth Edition!
Click here to visit I and the Bird Web Carnival.
gregladen | March 3, 2010Which creationist was the most nauseating?
From the NCSE:
When it comes to dissing evolution (and science in general) there's no lack of volunteers. How to decide which among them is the worst?
Enter the intelligently designed UpChucky Award, which recognizes supreme achievement in the field of persistently rejecting evolution in the most stomach-turning way imaginable. This crown of cluelessness, this diadem of density, this badge of bullpucky isn't awarded to just any Darwin doubter. The UpChucky is bestowed on that one creationist whose efforts in the preceding year would inspire Darwin (…
gregladen | March 3, 2010Diversity in Science Carnival #7: Black History Month - Broadening STEM Participation at every level at Urban Science Adventures.
Question of the day: What's more important to you: Getting the best personal healthcare coverage, or adequate universal coverage for everyone? (go comment and possibly win a USB drive thingie!)
What is Toast?
gregladen | March 3, 2010scientists have detected ice deposits near the moon's north pole. NASA's Mini-SAR instrument, a lightweight, synthetic aperture radar, found more than 40 small craters with water ice. The craters range in size from 1 to 9 miles (2 to15 km) in diameter. Although the total amount of ice depends on its thickness in each crater, it's estimated there could be at least 1.3 trillion pounds (600 million metric tons) of water ice.
The Mini-SAR has imaged many of the permanently shadowed regions that exist at both poles of the Moons. These dark areas are extremely cold and it has been hypothesized that…
gregladen | March 2, 2010To your doctor. I know you do.
And even if you don't, you won't want to miss the very interesting thread developing on this topic at Collective Imagination.
gregladen | March 2, 2010... are out. And here they are:
1
Wired Science - Wired Blog
2
Watts Up With That?
3
Climate Progress
4
RealClimate
5
Bad Astronomy
6
Climate Audit
7
Next Generation Science
8
Respectful Insolence
9
Deltoid
10
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
11
The Frontal Cortex
12
FuturePundit
13
BPS Research Digest
14
Uncertain Principles
15
Greg Laden's Blog
16
TierneyLab - New York Times blog
17
Gene Expression
18
A Blog Around The Clock
19
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
20
Stoat
Wikio: directory of blogs
gregladen | March 2, 2010The following video documents a project in the Bronx where students are given laptops and much of their school work (in the classroom and out) is done on Google Docs or using other resources.
Interesting changes happen.
The number of students at grade level in math increases from single digits to over half. That is an astounding difference, proving that in some cases environment contributes to a HUGE proportion of variation in intelligence as tested, in this case, by evaluations of math skills.
The teachers have realized they had been asking students to do something they themselves are…
gregladen | March 1, 2010Please join our discussion of this issue on Collective Imagination.
Oh, and if you comment over there, you are automatically entered into a contest to win a great prize!
gregladen | March 1, 2010A Twitter discussion this weekend between Ed Yong, Christie, and Sci Curious pointed out that Wikipedia's list of science blogs is seriously lacking. If I've learned anything in my year in the blog-o-sphere, it's that there are a lot of excellent blogs and bloggers out there. From reading the Wikipedia entry, you would think that there are only eleven.
Please go to Why Sharks Matter and add your comments!!!!!
gregladen | March 1, 2010Click here to learn the signs and symptoms, and to find a cure for this ruinzaneous dizeez.